Cooper Cronk became one of the latest inductees into the NRL’s Hall of Fame last month as the champion halfback was recognised for his achievements in the game.
The Brisbane-born star won multiple premierships with Melbourne and the Sydney Roosters, while also winning two Dally M Medals, two World Cups with Australia and representing Queensland on 22 occasions.
The five-time Dally M Halfback of the Year and Clive Churchill Medal winner won it all twice over during his illustrious career.
But former coach Craig Bellamy admitted all of his success seemed far out of reach when he first arrived at the Storm.
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Storm coach lifts the lid on Cooper Cronk difficulties
"I don’t think anyone had overly high hopes, to be quite honest," Bellamy said while appearing on the Clubhouse podcast.
"When Cooper first came down, he was a bit of a - I wouldn’t say party boy - but he liked a drink.
"He came down as a fullback and five-eighth and played a little bit at lock. For two seasons, he came down from Brisbane Norths and didn’t even make our squad.
"But by the end of 2005, he’d come off the bench and probably played 10 or 12 games. He’d come on in the second row a little bit and in the centres. He was our Wishy [Tyran Wishart]."
Cronk was stuck behind Matt Orford at halfback and Scott Hill at five-eighth and was reduced to limited minutes off the bench as the Storm were eventually eliminated in the second week of finals by Canterbury.
Just three weeks prior to their exit, Cronk had been handed a rare start in the halfback role for the last game of the regular season and impressed despite the Storm going down in a close affair to Manly.
Cronk notched a try, provided an assist and made three linebreaks during the loss with his run-first mentality in the halves proving to be effective.
This offered a glimpse of his future potential before the opportunity he had been waiting for all along finally materialised.
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"Matt Orford had been our halfback but he left to join Manly and we couldn’t really find a halfback on the market that we were happy with," Bellamy recalled.
"It wasn’t me. Someone else came up with the idea. But we said, 'Why don’t we give Cooper a go there?' So, I sat down and had a chat with him."
Bellamy outlined how he felt Cronk’s basic skill set was lacking to make a fist of it in the main playmaking role after he had been acting as a utility off the pine for two years prior.
Yet despite a few home truths from the coach, Cronk set about working on key elements of his game which would go on to help define him as a great.
"I told him he’d have to improve his kicking and his passing," Bellamy said.
"I’ve never, even to this day, seen a bloke kick a ball and pass and catch as much in a pre-season as Cooper did.
"When he started the season, it was like he’d been there forever.
"So, that just goes to show how much time and effort you put in and how much hard work - you get to where you want to get to.
"Cooper [and Billy Slater] were self-made guys. If they didn’t work as hard as they did, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did."
